Feb. 7--Don Adam is back in the banking business in Bryan-College Station.

Texas Department of Banking Director of Corporate Activities Lynda Drake said Adam filed paperwork with the agency Oct. 20 to open a College Station branch of Florida-based American Momentum Bank.

Adam did not return phone calls or respond to voice messages Friday.

Drake said Texas First Bank in Galveston transferred most of its assets and deposits to its larger affiliated bank, Texas First Bank in Texas City, last year.

American Momentum then acquired the charter for the Galveston bank for a reported $2.3 million.

"That enabled the Florida bank to have a branch here," Drake said.

Out-of-state banks without a local presence must file with the Texas Department of Banking, Drake said, showing that they are entering the state legally and that they have filed with the state secretary.

The deal was finalized Jan. 9, according to the Texas Department of Banking Web site.

The College Station branch was expected to be operational this month, according to a report in the San Antonio Business Journal. The branch will be at the Adam Corp./Group headquarters building off University Drive, the paper reported. The bank will operate from a temporary facility until the new building is completed, the paper said.

This isn't Adam's first local banking venture. In 2005, he sold his First American Bank, which had more than $3.5 billion in assets, to Citigroup for an undisclosed amount. Analysts at the time estimated the purchase at $750 million.

Adam, who is in his 70s, built First American Bank from the ground up, acquiring 11 failed financial institutions in the late 1980s.

He opened American Momentum in Florida in 2006. The bank has eight offices in Florida in addition to the one in Bryan.

American Momentum has more than $200.5 million in assets, according to the FDIC's Web site.

Sources confirmed Friday that several Citibank employees had left their jobs to return to work for Adam. A Citigroup spokeswoman declined to comment, citing a company policy that protects employee privacy.

The news of Adam's bank comes on the heels of another longtime local banker's announcement of a new franchise.

Tim Bryan recently joined forces with the Bank and Trust of Del Rio to launch a commercial banking facility on Briarcrest Drive in Bryan.

Bryan's family owned First National Bank for 144 years before selling to Franklin Bank in 2006 for more than $134 million. Franklin went bankrupt and was purchased by Houston-based Prosperity Bank in November.

Bryan, who was working as market chairman at First National, left the bank along with 21 employees with plans to open the new franchise.

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